Welcome to the Family, Simon Arie!

Simon Arie joined the family on April 23, 2018. He is sweet and snuggly and loves his siblings. He got his first 2 teeth at 4 months. He can roll both ways at 4 months too. As he approaches 5 months Simon loves to smile and laugh and he's trying to start scooting.

Johanna Is ONE!!!

It's hard to believe, but our precious baby girl is now one!

Johanna has brought us such joy. She has such a big personality and is starting to really show her silly side.

This past year was a lot of fun. But we have also endured many struggles due to allergies and feeding issues.

We are so thankful that she is now a healthy, happy girl.

Johanna weighs 19 lbs. 12 oz. (50th%) and is 28.5 in. long (24th%). She is definitely the lightest of our three kids at this age, but she has a lot of catch up to do after not eating well for several months.

Here are the family stats.

Johanna: 19 lbs. 12 oz., 28.5 in.
Abram: 22 lbs. 8 oz., 29 in.
Rebecca: 22 lbs., 28.25 in.

It seems that Johanna is our late walker. Which is kind of a nice change for us after having Abram literally running through the house by 10 months old and climbing on everything in sight.

She does like to cruise around the furniture and walk with push toys. But to really get around she is a speedy crawler.

Johanna is definitely an early talker! And it's not just repeating sounds, she really understands things.

When we sit down at the table she says "pray" and folds her hands. When we get food out or if she's hungry she says "hot" and blows. She loves to say hi and wave to everyone she meets. She even says hi on the phone when Grandma calls!

Johanna has a few obsessions:

Cups (especially Abram's cups).  She points and repeats "cup, cup, cup" over and over if she sees one.

Underwear (Rebecca's and Abram's). If she spots it she takes off with it, chews on it or just snuggles it.

Paper.  She calls it "pay."

People (Duplos, little people, etc.).  She calls them "pee." She'll carry them around the house all day.

Johanna knows what the potty "pa" and bath "ba" are...since she sees us in and out of the bathroom all day long.

She likes to point out or play with cars.  She'll say "ca" and then make the vroom sound. She is also learning some animal sounds like quack and moo.

Johanna gets very excited every day when Daddy comes home from work.  She gets to the door as quickly as possible and says "Da, Da, Da!"

She loves to snuggle.  She'll snuggle just about anything and understands the word.

We may have another dancer.  She loves listening to and dancing to any kind of music.

Johanna knows what she likes. If you put food in front of her and she doesn't want it...it's all on the floor before you can grab it from her. And she'll shake her head no.  On the other hand if she does want something she will point at it until you give it to her.  If you ask "Do you want ___?" she nods yes.

She does have a lot of allergies, which limits her diet (and mine). But she still gets plenty of nourishing foods.

Her favorite thing to do is watch or play with her big sister and brother. They aren't always fond of her involvement. But she loves it and will go around the house looking for them and calling their names if she doesn't know where they are.\

Johanna has 12 teeth now. She's still working on getting the last few parts of her molars through.

Lately Johanna has started doing a silly, fake laugh. She loves being the center of attention and knows how to get it! If nobody is paying attention to her she gets very loud and makes sure she is heard. She is definitely our first screamer.

This little lady has such a big personality. You can see from some of the photos that she is always up to something.

There is so much more that could be said about this smart, silly, snuggly little girl.  She brings the whole family such joy.  We praise God for this addition to our family and this first year of her life that we get to celebrate.

We had fun celebrating her birthday as a family.  What a great way to end our summer.  Now we are getting ready to start a new school year with two kids in school! And lots of activities too - dance, piano and Kindermusik. We are also anticipating a move to a house with more land and space by this time next year. We look forward to what God has in store for our family in the coming year.

Our Three Miracles

Welcome, Johanna Ruth!

We are so excited to announce the arrival of our sweet miracle, Johanna Ruth Voogt.  She was born at 7:43 am on August 21, weighing 9 lbs. and measuring 20.5 in. long.  She is named after her Great Grandma (Margaret Johanna) and Great Great Grandma (Johanna "Josie") Van Heukelum.

Everything went smoothly with the delivery.  Johanna was face up staring right at the doctor as she came out.  We were in the recovery room by 8:15 and soon moved on to our regular room to rest and share the good news.

Rebecca and Abram were so excited to hear they had a baby sister.  They came right away for a visit.  We spent time with both sets of grandparents and the kids while in the hospital.

Mary and Johanna opted for the fast track to recovery and only stayed at the hospital for two days, arriving home around 11 am on Saturday.

Johanna is doing very well and already seems to be growing way too quickly.  Every night sleep gets a little better.  Nursing is also going very well.  Johanna is getting lots of attention from her siblings too.

To our surprise and delight Johanna is already giving us smiles!  She has given big grins quite a few times now when she hears Mama's voice.

She also rolled from her back to her tummy last night while Daddy was changing her diaper.  I don't think we're quite ready for that yet!

Johanna was known for her hiccups while in Mary's tummy.  The kids loved to feel her hiccup on and on.  Now that she is out she still hiccups a lot.  Abram walks around calling her Johanna Ruth Hiccup.

This week we are enjoying spending time together at home as a family of five.  The big kids are hoping to do some fun stuff with Daddy too, if the weather cooperates.  We all went to the doctor for Mary to get her staples removed.

Johanna also had her check up with the pediatrician already.  After 4 days she is about back to her birth weight...she's eating very well!  The doctor said she looks great.  We'll go back in a couple weeks for her next check up.

In a couple weeks we'll have a visit with the audiologist to make sure Johanna's hearing is ok.  One ear did not pass the hearing screening in the hospital.  We are hopeful that it was just from extra fluid.

Next week we start yet another adventure - Rebecca starts first grade!  She is really going to miss her baby sister all day.  And we are going to miss Rebecca.

We praise God for our newest blessing.  In just a few days she has already brought us so much joy.  She looks just like her big sister and is fitting in perfectly.  Welcome, Johanna Ruth!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Abram!

On May 9 our little guy turned three!  How time flies.  He is really growing and maturing.

We started the celebration on the day of his birthday as a family with a few gifts.  This year his big gift was a balance bike.

The next day Abram got to have a birthday party for the first time.  It was fun to see many relatives and give him a special day.

Abram requested a bulldozer birthday.  So all of the kids got construction hats, and we had a bulldozer cake.  The weather was perfect, so after the celebration we spent time outside.

As usual, everyone was very generous with gifts.  Abram is putting all of his presents to good use.

Abram had his three-year check up a couple weeks ago.  He now weighs 30 lbs. (25th - 50th%) and is 37" tall (25th - 50th%).

Abram is learning and growing so much since he has turned three.  He recently decided he was ready to use the potty.  So far it's going very well.  He stays dry most of the time and is thoroughly enjoying being in underwear instead of diapers.

He is also taking much more interest in learning letters and numbers.  Wherever we go he points out every "A for Abram" and "D for Daddy" he sees.  He really enjoys coloring too.

Of course Abram loves to play with his big sister.  They are best buddies and are so imaginative together.  I often hear them going camping, visiting the farm, going to school or just exploring around the house.  He sure is going to miss Rebecca when she is in school all day.

Abram's next big event will be moving into Rebecca's bedroom.  We decided to wait until Rebecca was done with school for the year.  Now we just have to wait for his bed rail to arrive.  I'm sure the kids will love the change.  I'm not so sure about Mommy and Daddy.  Hopefully they get some sleep.

Abram is very excited to be a big brother soon.  He finally got to feel some big kicks from the baby.  He asks all the time when the baby is coming out so he can snuggle with it.  He is going to be a great helper.

We are so proud of our little guy.  He is growing and maturing.  Abram is the snuggliest, silliest and most caring boy we know.  He loves deeply and is so fun to be around.  We praise God for our second miracle.

Happy Easter!

Last weekend we had fun celebrating Easter as a family.  On Saturday the kids went to a local Easter egg hunt.  This was our second year.  The kids really enjoyed putting eggs in their bags and picking prizes with their tickets.

On Sunday we had a wonderful Easter service at church.  We enjoyed family time at home.  Then we had a fun visit from Grandpa and Grandma Holleboom and Uncle Dan.  Rebecca got to open a few more birthday presents and we enjoyed the beautiful spring weather.

What a blessing to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior!

Happy 6th Birthday, Rebecca!

Last week Rebecca turned six!!  It's hard to believe our little girl is getting so big.

We had a week long celebration at home.  First Rebecca requested homemade soft serve ice cream.  Then we baked her cake and used some of the batter to make a few cupcakes to sample.  Next we made sugar cookies with homemade frosting for her to bring to school.  Rebecca chose the shapes for the cookies - eggs, bunnies, hearts, cowboy hats, cowboy boots and airplanes.  It was a combination of Easter and our trip to Texas.

Friday (the day after her birthday) we finally had a chance for the real celebration.  In the morning we opened presents.  Rebecca got a baseball, some doll clothes and a new bike!!  Justin had the day off, so he and the kids spent the whole morning outside.  Rebecca got lots of practice on her bike right away.

In the evening we had Rebecca's requested birthday dinner - grilled steak and asparagus.  We ended the day with her "Frozen" cake and homemade ice cream.

Rebecca also received many wonderful gifts from relatives.  She's been busy experimenting with her human body science kit, reading new books, playing with her Anna doll and watching Frozen.

Rebecca also had her six-year check up this week.  She is healthy and growing well.  She now weighs 43.5 lbs. (50th percentile) and is 42.5 in. tall (10th percentile).  As of right now the doctor is predicting she'll have Mommy's genes for height.  But only time will tell.  Mommy was taller and weighed less at age 5 than Rebecca does at 6.

The tooth fairy continues to be busy in our house.  Rebecca lost tooth #8 yesterday!  She has six of her permanent teeth in, so at least she doesn't have too many holes at once.

School is going very well for Rebecca this year.  She is in half-day kindergarten.  Rebecca is continuing in the Spanish immersion program and really excelling at it.  The students may only speak Spanish to the teacher.  Rebecca even enjoys talking to Mommy in Spanish at home.  She thinks it's funny that Daddy doesn't know what we're saying.

Rebecca is also in Kindermusik and dance this year.  She is learning notes and how to read music in Kindermusik.  She enjoys practicing songs on her glockenspiel.  Rebecca has been learning tap and ballet in dance.  She has her end-of-year recital on May 31.  We can't wait to see her perform!

As always Rebecca enjoys crafting, singing, dancing, reading, writing and doing anything with her imagination.  She loves being with her friends and can't wait to be a big sister to two siblings.

We are so proud of everything she is learning and how she is maturing.  We can't wait to see what God has planned for her in the coming years.